Leir Migration Monitor, May 2024 – Urban Citizenship and Mass Deportations

City Governments as Humanitarian Actors: Learning from the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees

By Samer Saliba, Director of City Practice at the Mayors Migration Council and Senior Fellow at the Henry J. Leir Institute

In this piece, Samer Saliba uses the urban theory lens to illustrate how cities can help offer displaced people access to citizenship. He states that “the increasing number of forcibly displaced seeking safety and opportunity in cities creates an opportunity for citizenship and agency; not national citizenship, but urban citizenship.”

He views “city governments [as] capable humanitarian actors who view refugees not as a problem to be solved, but citizens of their cities, entitled to the same rights and privileges as any other resident.”

Read more of Samer Saliba’s article here: